Coup d'état
by Ridgley Warfield
Summary: Life has returned to normal for the Cullens, but Carlisle's gut tells him they are still in danger. When the Volturi announce a reorganization of their coven, what will this mean for other vampires, especially the Cullens?


Title: Coup d'état

Rating: MA, for erotica

Genre: Angst/Suspense

Summary: Life has returned to normal for the Cullens, but Carlisle's gut tells him they are still in danger. When the Volturi announce a reorganization of their coven, what will this mean for other vampires, especially the Cullens?

Author's Note: Post-Breaking Dawn. Please excuse any glaring typos or grammar mistakes. I always try to edit thorough before I post, but I don't catch everything. Reviews are awesome, just sayin'.

* * *

A streak of lightning forked above the trees that encircled the large estate, chased by a low roil of thunder that left the floor to ceiling window trembling against the sill and illuminating the pallid face of the Cullen patriarch. His sharp, tawny eyes were focused somewhere beyond the physical realm, as his mind reeled through several centuries of memories. So lost was he that the presence of his wife didn't register with him until she had rested lightly on the arm of his chair, her fingers combing through his golden blonde hair.

"You're brooding again." Esme teased lightly.

Carlisle's eyes flicked up to meet the rich honey-colored irises above him and he relaxed back into the chair, not realizing how tense he had become. "I'm not brooding… I'm thinking. There's a difference."

"_Is_ there?" Esme smirked at the sound of his mild, tenor tone, sliding off the chair arm and into Carlisle's lap. His powerful arms encircled her gently and he laid a tender kiss along her brow as she settled against his chest. "Then what are you _thinking_ about?"

Carlisle hesitated one second too long.

Esme looked up at him, her eyes reflecting the heaviness of her heart. "Oh…my love…_still_?"

"I'm sure it's nothing." He told her, trying to allay her concerns as much as his own. "Alice would have seen it by now if there was still a danger to any of us." He paused and sighed softly, unconvinced. "But I still feel…_something._"

Esme smiled despite his last words, lightly picking her fingers through his golden hair. "You worry too much; you know that, don't you?"

"Is that such a bad thing?" He asked, drawing her in and brushing his nose lightly against hers.

"When it affects your happiness, yes." She laid a hand on his chest and pushed back to look into his eyes. "We're safe, Carlisle . The Volturi have no conflict with us, Victoria's threat has been neutralized, Renesmee is healthy and happy…you can relax."

"I can't help but think about what we went through with the army of the newborns—about Jasper's experience with rivaling covens. Our family continues to grow when it was already one of the largest. Conflict is bound to arise again, even if it's not with the Volturi."

"And when it does, we'll deal with it. Together. Just as we always have." Esme leaned in and kissed him deeply. "You can't worry about a future that may never happen, Carlisle."

He sighed, conceding to her for the sake of argument. "You're right, of course."

"As long as we both agree." She teased, smiling victoriously.

Carlisle brought his hand up to her face, weaving his fingers through her hair as he drew her mouth back down to his. The kiss was infused with passion, just as it always was—stirring the deep-seeded arousal that had never waned in over eighty years of marriage. Esme moaned softly, smirking against his lips as she felt him growing hard beneath her.

"It's nice to know _that_ hasn't been affected."

Carlisle's eyes darkened as his pupils dilated. "I'd say it's been _very_ affected."

The tip of Esme's tongue came out to wet her lips as she smiled coyly at Carlisle. The beginning strains of Beethoven's "Moonlight" filtered up the stairs from where Edward had been playing at the piano. Carlisle's head fell back against the chair as he laughed, but Esme frowned towards the door of Carlisle's office.

"I really hate that sometimes." She huffed in reference to Edward's ability to hear others' thoughts, and knowing her son had just been privy to what she'd been thinking a moment ago. Carlisle laughed harder, wrapping his arms tighter around his wife and drawing her down into a searing kiss.

"He's just try to help set the mood."

"That's the last thing I need," Esme told him. Carlisle knew that if his wife could blush, she would be bright red. "They don't need to know about our bedroom habits."

Carlisle smiled ruefully at Esme. "I'm fairly certain they are all well aware of what sex is, my dear."

Esme slapped his chest and wriggled out of his arms, straightening herself demurely. "I never said they didn't. I simply don't think we should advertise when we make love."

"So, no billboards on the highway?" Carlisle teased, receiving a soft glare from her honeyed eyes.

This particular issue seemed as old as time to Carlisle. Esme had always been very modest and reserved when it came to sex…at least when their children were under the same roof. Whenever they managed to sneak off and be truly alone, Esme's passion was completely unbridled.

Carlisle rose from his chair, slipping his arms around Esme's waist and pressing tender kisses along her neck. "Let's go to bed." He whispered, nuzzling just under her ear.

Esme sighed, "The mood is gone. I can't, knowing some people are listening."

She spoke the last bit pseudo-malevolently, knowing Edward would still be tuned into their conversation just because he knew it annoyed Esme. Carlisle breathed out his own sexually frustrated sigh, resting his chin on Esme's shoulder.

"No secrets in a house full of vampires." He murmured without humor.

"I'm sorry." She said meekly.

"It's alright. Though I feel I may be forced to evict them all for at least a week, so that you and I can be alone."

Esme gave a short, tinkling laugh and turned her head towards him as far as she could to kiss his cheek. "Or we could just go away. There's still some furniture that needs to be fixed on the island."

"Mmm." Carlisle assented coolly. "Don't get me started on that again."

Esme chuckled. "You have to get over it sometime, Carlisle. They didn't mean to break the headboard."

"That headboard is a family heirloom." He told her, for probably the hundredth time since learning of its destruction.

"'It's been in my family since the 1500's,'" she turned in his arms, facing him as she mockingly lowered her voice and repeated the words he had so often told her.

He looked pained. "Please don't tell me I sound like that."

She laughed, squeezing him tightly around the middle. "Seriously, Carlisle…let's go away for a while. Just us. It would do us both some good. Please?"

Carlisle looked down into her pleading face and smiled, brushing the tip of his nose against hers. "I could never deny you."

She smiled as he leaned in and kissed her. "When?"

He laughed quietly. "You're nothing if not persistent; you know that, don't you?"

When she simply looked at him expectantly, he laughed again.

"Alright…see what you can do about making the arrangements for next week and I'll arrange some time off."

"How long can we stay?" She asked excitedly.

"However long you'd like—within reason." He added, kissing her forehead. "Just let me know so I can let the hospital know."

"You're wonderful." She sighed happily, resting her head against his chest. "Truly, incredibly wonderful."

Carlisle gently cupped her face as he drew her into a deep, languid kiss. When he pulled back several moments later, Esme looked at him dizzily. She could feel the slick warmth of her arousal between her legs and the incessant throb of desire pulsing in her core.

"I think the mood is back." She said in wanton voice.

Carlisle grinned victoriously and swooped her up into his arms, carrying her swiftly to their bedroom before any of their children could interfere again.

* * *

Naked and wrapped in Carlisle's loving embrace, Esme lay with her head on her husband's chest as they reveled in post-coital bliss. She was watching the rain fall against the window as he lazily drew patterns across her bare shoulder, both simply enjoying the rare moment of true closeness.

As was usual, Esme's mind was filled with thoughts of all the things she wished she could have experienced with Carlisle before he had turned her. It still devastated her to know that if she had been human when they married, she could have borne his child. She envied that of Bella… She wondered how life would have been different for her if her child had lived. Would Charles have tracked her down? Would she have ever come across Carlisle again? Would she have been made immortal?

"Esme…" Carlisle's gentle voice broke her thoughts, and as his hand covered hers, she realized she'd begun to move it restlessly over his chest in angst. She had done this often enough that Carlisle now recognized it as an indication of her inner turmoil.

"I'm sorry." She whispered, ashamed of her thoughts.

"Don't be." He murmured, brushing his lips across the top of her head.

"I know you hate when I think about those things."

"I don't hate your thoughts," he corrected softly. "I just hate to see you unhappy."

"I'm not unhappy, my love." Esme pushed up to look down into his eyes. "My thinking of the past and the what-ifs doesn't mean I wish things to be different. I just wonder what it would be like if they were."

He brushed a lock of hair behind her ear in response and Esme laid her head back down against him with a quiet sigh.

"Carlisle…?"

"Hmm?"

"If you'd known that vampires could impregnate humans…would it have changed anything for you?"

"What do you mean?"

"In looking for a mate. Would it have change your opinion about finding someone to love?"

He thought about this carefully, stroking his fingers through the silken strands of molten caramel. Finally, he answered in a quiet voice. "Yes."

She raised her head, looking at him in surprise. "Yes?"

"If I'd know that it was possible to safely conceive and deliver a child with a human, it would have drastically changed my thoughts about a mate." He searched her eyes for a long moment. "I could have given you everything you wanted from the start—a happy marriage, a child. You would have never had to marry Charles, never suffer his abuse. You would have never had to endure the loss of your son, and feel that the only thing remaining for you was death."

Esme's eyes blurred with venomous tears and she blinked rapidly trying to clear her vision. Hearing him say those words almost made up for that period of her life when she'd been without him. "Even if I'd never been able to conceive…I would have given anything to be with you."

He smiled and brushed the backs of his fingers along her cheeks. "You're the only woman I've ever loved. I knew the moment I first saw you that I would love you for the rest of my life."

"Then why did you leave me?!" She asked, with an exasperated laugh.

He held her tightly, pulling her back down against him as he quietly laughed. "You were 16, Es... I was not about to steal you away. Besides that, I didn't think I was good enough for you. I could give you eternity, but nothing else."

"You have given me _everything_, Carlisle. Do not ever doubt how much you mean to me, how much I have always loved you."

He deftly rolled them so that he was laying on top of her, smirking down at her. "You leave little room for doubt." He teased, lightly rubbing himself between her legs. Esme moaned softly, throwing one leg over his hip as he bent to kiss her thoroughly, entering her easily at the same time.

"I secretly fantasized about you," she admitted to him in the barest of whispers. "Even though it was completely improper for young ladies to have such fancies, I used to touch myself thinking about you."

Carlisle groaned, dropping his face against her neck and nipping at her. "When was this?"

"When we first met." She cooed as he moved slowly within her. "I used to dream about you stealing a kiss under that old oak we used to sit under whenever you visited me for my checkups. You never did, of course—far too genteel for your own good, I used to think."

He laughed softly against her skin, then in a rough voice he asked, "Were you ever wet when you were with me?"

"You mean you never smelled it on me?"

He lifted his head, grinning down at her. "I just want to hear you say it."

"Just thought of you used to make me wet—the way you looked, the way you smelled, the sound of your voice…I loved everything about you and I wanted you so badly."

"'Used to' make you wet?" He asked, wounded.

She chuckled. "I've learned a little control since then. I don't want to have to change my panties every time you look at me."

He smirked, kissing her hungrily once again as they moved together.

"Tell me more about touching yourself." He breathed, fuel by the thought of a teenaged Esme fingering herself.

"At night, in my bed, after everyone was asleep, I would pull up my nightgown and think of you. I would play with the wetness, imagining your fingers instead of mine. It felt so good. I would imagine you lying in my bed with me, knowing you shouldn't be there. You would cover my mouth so that I didn't cry out and wake the others, and you would touch me and tell me I was so beautiful. And when I came, I would always whisper your name."

Carlisle's pace had picked up as he imagined her fantasy in his mind, finding it just as riveting as she must have as a teenager. The thought of doing something so licentious with her was far more arousing that he'd considered possible, but he was completely taken by the image in his mind.

He found his peak far quicker than he'd anticipated, emptying his venom into her for the second time that night, and growling softly at the force behind his ecstasy. He heard Esme laughing softly, her fingers lovingly brushing his hair off his brow.

"I take it you approve of my fantasies?"

He looked at her, blinking rapidly for a minute as he realized he hadn't paced himself to allow her to climax as well. "I guess I got a bit carried away."

She smirked up at him. "I noticed."

Carlisle let her push him onto his back, rejoining their bodies as she straddled his hips. He moaned softly, already feeling himself harden again inside of her. Esme threaded her fingers through his, holding onto them for leverage as she rode up and down the length of him. Carlisle's eyes traveled from her beautiful face, down her neck and over the swell of her breasts—watching them bounce with her efforts.

"You're so beautiful, Esme…"he murmured, drinking in the rest of her body.

Esme mewled softly as her climax began to build and she pulled one of his hands down to where their bodies connected. "Touch me."

Carlisle slid his thumb along the outside of her stretched folds, letting her moisture wet him before he slid his thumb up to the small bundle of nerves nestled in her womanhood. Esme bit her lower lip to keep from crying out as she arched her back, bracing her hands behind her on his thighs as he manually stimulated her. She rocked back and forth on him harder and faster as she neared her release. He could feel her trembling as she lingered just on the edge. When he knew she was just about to topple over into bliss, he leaned up and captured a nipple in his mouth, biting down.

"Carlisle!" Esme cried out, her fingers flying into his hair, tangling in the blonde tresses as she held him against her breast, her body spasming as she came.

Carlisle continued rolling his thumb over her clit in slow circles as Esme came down, his tongue laving the hard peak of her nipple, until she finally batted his hand away. She let her head fall against his shoulder, and Carlisle laid them back against the pillows, content to hold her in his arms.

"You did that on purpose." She accused with no real anger.

He smirked, knowing exactly what she was referring to. "I doubt they have any misconceptions about what we're doing up here. And, I like when you're vocal."

"I'll be vocal when we're alone." She huffed.

"I plan to do my best to ensure that." He teased.

She laughed quietly, "Is that so?"

"Mm." He assented, pressing a kiss to her shoulder. "You might need to do some vocal warm-ups before we leave."

Esme laughed, pushing off of him completely and slipping off the bed. "You're terrible."

Carlisle groaned at the loss of contact, but turned on his side to watch her pad across the room to their adjoining bathroom. "I thought you told me I was wonderful?"

Esme looked back at him as she opened the taps of the large garden tub. "I've changed my mind."

Esme filled the tub with softly scented salts and bubbles, then moved to the vanity to find a clip and secure her hair on top of her head. She found Carlisle watching her with a loving gaze, his manhood still semi-erect against his thigh. She always felt so precious when he looked at her this way, and it reminded her that she was the luckiest woman in the entire world. She held her hands out to him. "Come take a bath with me."

Carlisle rose from the bed, moving to her at a human pace and gathering her in his arms to kiss her sweetly. She took his hands and pulled him towards the tub, letting him get in first so that she could settle in against him. The water was warm, soaking into their cold, hard skin and feeling almost as good as a lover's embrace. Esme smiled and sighed contentedly, leaning her head back against Carlisle's chest.

"I'll never get tired of this." She told him.

His arms encircled her, his nose brushing against the side of her neck. "Neither will I, my love…Neither will I."

* * *

TBC


End file.
